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The Yard & Garden
New Pics Of My Garden
Here is an update on how my little garden is growing. It has taken me a very long time to get all the plants potted up. I sit on a chair on the front porch, with a pot on a TV tray in front of me, and use a kitchen spoon to fill it with potting soil. So, that plant up there ^^^is a yellow bell pepper. I would say it is about half the size it needs to be to be picked and used in some delicious recipe.
There are three tomatoes on my tomato plant. I can’t wait to pick a juicy red ripe tomato and make a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich! I am so surprised that I have been able to keep these plants alive.
My friend, Polly, and her sweetie came to visit last week. After a lunch of fried catfish and potato salad, we took a drive around the countryside looking for those rambling roses you see on country roadsides. They have a profusion of petite pink blooms. I have been wanting to find some so I can plant them on the bank in front of my house. Well, we found them, and Ken braved the chiggers to get me some cuttings. I put the ends in Rootone and planted them in this little basket. I am hoping to get roots on them in a couple of weeks.
This basil is sooo good. It smells good, and it tastes good. I have cut leaves off twice already to season things I was cooking.
My eggplant is blooming, too. I am going to use these to make eggplant parmesean. It is so good, with mozzarella and some marinara sauce. I also love fried eggplant.
Another bell pepper. I think this one is red or orange. I know it is not a green bell pepper because they didn’t have any when I went to buy my plants. I love to sautee some peppers and onions, and smother some catfish with it.
I thought this one was a brown bell pepper, but when I potted it up, the tag in it said it was purple. So, I guess we’ll see what color they turn out to be. It is flowering now, too, and has a couple of little peppers on it already.
This is my parsley and oregano. It looks a whole lot better in person than it does in this picture. I use them in cooking, and love how fresh parsley smells when I rub it on my hands.
This is Verbena, or as the country folks call it, Sweet William. It blooms all summer and looks so pretty in the little blue basket on my porch rail.
Petunias. Pretty pretty petunias. They grow just about anywhere.
Fabgrandpa’s favorite for the flower garden. They will bloom all summer too. There are two plants in the basket, one with yellow flowers, and one with red. They seem to take turns blooming.
I have only gotten a handful of these sweet red strawberries so far, but don’t they look pretty growing?
The squash has a lot of blossoms on it, but no squashes yet. I am hoping they will grow this week. I planted some Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans in with the squash last week, and it is already several inches tall.
You can barely see the little seedlings, but the swiss chard I planted last week is definitely growing. It may be too late for it, but I’m trying for it anyway.
Lastly, there are the nasturtiums that I planted last week. Did you know you can eat the blossoms of nasturtiums. Good in salads, and a yummy peppery flavor.
Grandma’s Fabulous Garden
Back on April 4, I told y’all I was going to try to plant a little garden, using some unusual household items to make raised beds. Well, I planted some broccoli and onions in some bags of composted cow manure in some old camp chair. This was purely experimental, and I think that sadly, it didn’t work. I followed the directions to the that I found online on how to do this but my broccoli just isn’t doing the broccoli thing.
On the other hand, I also have some other things planted in regular plastic flower pots and baskets that I got at a couple of thrift stores. Those are doing quite well.
Right now I have them on the front porch, but they are not getting as much sun as they need there, so when Becky and Emily come over on my birthday to help me with some chores, I will have them move those out to the wellhead on a garden bench.
I will also rip out the non performing broccoli and plant some chard and beans. I don’t know anyone who can’t grow beans. Here are some more photos of my plants that are doing well right now:
The herbs smell so good when I sit on the porch. I can’t wait to be able to use them in cooking.
I got this pot of Lemon Basil at the grocery store. It had about twenty little plants growing in the same pot. I separated them and planted some here. I need another pot for the rest of it.
Fabgrandpa loves Moss Rose. He has had some in every garden we have planted together.
I always feel like a garden is not complete without at least one patch of petunias. They are pretty and bloom all summer, and smell sweet too.
The Sweet William, or Verbena, is another of my favorites. It has a pretty multi-flower bloom, and also blooms all summer.
I have been doing one or two pots a day before I run out of energy. I sit on a chair, with the container on a little table, shoveling the potting soil with a kitchen spoon out of the 40 pound bag. I can’t bend over, and can’t lift over five pounds, so it is slow going getting it all done. I have a Red Bell Pepper, a Brown Bell Pepper, an Eggplant, more Basil, two yellow squash plants, and another two petunia plants to go. Then I will be done, except for the seeds. I have pole beans, swiss chard, and nasturtiums. What are you planting this year?
Thirfty Thursday
While I am waiting for the right time to plant a garden in my area, I am busy gathering supplies. The thrift store in Bremen, Georgia yielded a ton of flower pots in all different sizes and shapes.
I also found this great metal shelf unit for the front porch. It is just the right size to hold grilling supplies, and maybe a plant on the middle shelf.
This rusty decorative shelf will hold some flower pots of petunias and a trailing vine once I get the plants potted up. All these things cost a $20 bill at the thrift store.
I'm Getting Gardening Fever!
Last year I really wanted a small vegetable garden, but I was not able to do the work involved in getting one planted. So, over the last few months, I have been looking around the internetz and Pinterest, and gardening websites, and and and…I have figured out a way to make a raised garden that I won’t have to bend over or do heavy work like digging or raking or all that other stuff to get it prepared and planted. It involves using some normal everyday things in unique ways to accomplish my goals.
Yes, yes, I am going to use those two green canvas camp chairs for part of it. I might even use another blue canvas chair that has been under the back porch for more than a year. These chairs seem to be unstable at best, and they are very difficult for me to get up out of if I sit in them. So, they are going to be re-purposed into a veggie garden.
The concrete well head that is in our yard, covering up an old, out of use well, will also be incorporated into my garden. The last time you saw this, it was when I was planking you for voting for me in a contest. If ( and I really mean when) this garden is up and running, I will be showing you pictures of it every Friday for the entire gardening season. I am so excited and just can not wait!
So, I am planning to plant swiss chard, onions, kale, and English peas first. Later on, I want to plant some green beans, squash, peppers, and eggplant and some tomatoes. If you had a little garden, what would be your “must have” vegetable to plant in it?
What’s Blooming In Your Yard Today
I took a walk around the yard the other day, and found several pretty flowers blooming out there. Before I got sick and not able to do much, I used to love to plant flowers and work in the yard. It has been very hard for me to not be able to plant petunias, salvia, zinnias, shasta daisies, and cosmos this spring. I’m also missing planting an herb garden, something every cook with a little space needs to have. If I could, I would plant basil, dill, thyme, marjoram, oregano, parsley, and garlic. It would be so nice to just walk out the door and cut the freshest herbs for dinner!
The pond is especially pretty right now, with the plants in it coming to life. We were surprised on Saturday with a water lily blossom!
Here is a close up of the same flower:
Out by the driveway, these irises have been blooming for a week or so.
They smell so good, but you have to get up close to get that sweet scent.
This plant is growing by the well head. The flowers close up at night, and open back up each morning. I don’t know what it is. Do you?
One last photo of the unknown plant:
I thought at first that this was a snowball bush, but now I think it is a type of hydrangea. What do you think?
I can’t wait to see what blooms next!
Pond Life
As the weather warms up here in Georgia, we are finding abundant life in the tiny pond in our front yard. The water lilies are growing and getting ready to bloom. There is another plant in there too, but I don’t know what it is.
This frog usually hides from us, but today was sunny and he was taking full advantage of the warmth. A couple of weeks ago, he kept us awake all night with his toad mating song. I never knew frogs could be so loud!
This lizard is evidently the male of the species. He was puffing out his neck into a fabulous red collar earlier, but stopped when I went inside to get my camera. And yes, there was a different looking lizard that is probably the female.
I tried to get photos of the tadpoles but you can’t see them in the pics I took. There is a lot of living going on over in that pond.
Ready To Cook Out!
Since we moved into the house back in November I have wanted to get a barbecue grill. We tried using the small one we had while traveling in the RV, but it is too short, and we have no outdoor table to put it on. Fabgrandpa had to set it on the porch and then stand on the ground beside it to cook our chicken the one time we used it here.
So, on Friday, we headed back over to Home Depot, when I had spotted some barbecues when we were there looking at the tractors. We found our idea of a “perfect” grill there. We decided on the Weber 18.5″ grill. We’ve had a Weber grill in the past, and it lasted a long time, and cooked things evenly. Not a bad deal at $79.
Saturday afternoon I walked out on the porch, and Fabgrandpa had the grill pieces spread all over the place. He said my part in this job was to sit and read the instructions, then tell him what to do. Hmmm, I think I am pretty good at that. So, we got started right away.
After several attempts, we got the grill all put together. My only physical contribution was to put this handle on the lid. He did everything else. Since it went together pretty quickly, we still had time to cook up a chicken for dinner.I cut a whole chicken in half, sprinkled on tenderizer generously, then sprinkled with a chicken seasoning that my sister gave me, and then put both halves on the grill.
Once the chicken is put on the grill, we put the lid on and walked away for twenty minutes. Turn it over, replace the lid, and walk away for another twenty minutes.
Check the chicken at the end of the second twenty minutes, and if it needs more time, cover and wait. We turn the chicken a second time and left it for another ten minutes. It turned out tender and delicious! I think we are going to love this grill!